My expertise: personal finance, career transition, and retirement. My latest book is Love Your Job: The New Rules of Career Happiness. Other recent books include: What's Next? Finding Your Passion and Your Dream Job in Your Forties, Fifties and Beyond and Great Jobs for Everyone 50 +. I am a columnist for The New York Times. I am AARP's JOB EXPERT. I write a weekly column for boomer women on the new PBS web site, NextAvenue.org. My journalistic journey has taken me from Forbes to Money to Kiplinger's Personal Finance to U.S. News and World Report, where I developed the "Second Acts" column back in 2006, and then on to USA Today where I wrote the “Your Money” column. I run my own media company with the following platforms: I write non-fiction career and personal finance books and online columns like this one. I give speeches on changing careers, finding work after 50, working in retirement, ways to learn to love your job and women and money. I consult on a variety of career topics. I grew up in Fox Chapel, outside of Pittsburgh, Pa. I'm a graduate of Duke University. To learn more about me, go to http://www.kerryhannon.com/. If you have story ideas or tips, e-mail me at kerry@kerryhannon.com. Follow me on Twitter: @KerryHannon

How To Fight Age Discrimination

7. Change it up. Cast a wide net. Look at your skill set and past experience as transferable to lots of different challenges and fields. If you’re switching industries, you’re redeploying skills you already have in place, not reinventing or retraining for entirely new ones.

8. Look for openings at small businesses or local nonprofits. You can provide the depth of practical knowledge and versatility that’s worth two junior hires, and the learning curve is not as steep.

8. Do something. Try volunteering for a nonprofit organization, or do pro-bono work in a job that taps your skills and keeps your resume up-to-date at the same time.

9. Brush-up on your interview skills. Think like an expert. Employers want you to solve their problem now. They’re going to pick the best, most interested, most innovative candidate. Focus on the company’s needs. If you have done your homework on the firm, and GoogleGoogle alerts have kept you up-to-date on the latest developments with the company and its competitors, you’ll have lots to pull from in your conversation.

10. Brag a little. Self-promotion is uncomfortable for many boomers, especially if you’ve always thought of yourself as a team player.

Set humble aside, put on your dress shoes, powder your nose, and when you hit the stage, start dancing.

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What I found in my interviews was humorous and also shows that age discrimination is alive and well. In every interview I could tell that they like me and liked my presentation. At 62 I’m a tech geek and often know more about technology than than even experienced people. In one interview I was treated rudely but wondered if that was a stress test. In another interview one of the managers was asleep by the time the interview started. In another interview they were eating it up and then asked several questions about whether I had retired and was I receiving a pension. In another interview they let it slip that I gave the best presentation they had ever observed in an interview but the people I would be training were young. My comeback was that I had spent 8 years training our starter employees and had helped train over 8,000 employyes. Not one job offer was made though. I am a real professional and am adept at public speaking. My conclusion is that although I could obtain a job I decided simply to start a small technical business. I think what they are afraid of is that with your skills and experience you could come in and take over. Suffice it to say that if you have retired it will take all that you suggested and more to overcome the fear of hiring the elderly.

Ha. Bill, you might have hit on something here. Fear of someone knowing more than they do. Love it and hate it at the same time. Sounds like you made a great choice for yourself. But so frustrating. Thanks for sharing your story. I think others will be able to relate. I do. All my best, Kerry

Ms. Hannon, the ‘not in it for the long haul’ prejudice is rather intriguing because it reflects conflicting attitudes.

Who IS in it for the long haul? People routinely kept jobs for short periods even before the recession.

If obligations to employees are the big impediment to hiring during uncertain business conditions, why isn’t someone who is perceived as short-term more desirable?

Is the “overqualified” response to a candidate (aka “you’re a threat”) mitigated by the short-termer perception? I don’t think so, but it’s not clear to me why.

So much of HR seems like using fancy words to rationalize (or cover up) the prejudices and personal contradictions of managers who hire. It does not seem like the norm is to make hiring decisions that maintain professional attitudes and practices.

You’ve got a good point here. I think prejudice against age is prevalent. Even boomers may shy away from hiring people their age. But companies are keen to hire for “contract” or freelance work where they don’t have to pay benefits typically. Frustrating. Thanks for your note, Kerry

Many hiring managers in the IT industry look at age and pay. Because of outsourcing companies are retrenching high salary staff for cheaper staff. Profitability looks good initially then customer complains mount.

With enthusiasm comes a lack of experience and the approach many new generations of staff took the cowboy method without thinking through with precaution. Thus many outages and many a longer path to achieve project delivery.

I work well with younger generations. The perception of old staff cannot work well with younger generation is the reluctance to mix with younger folks and share experience. These experience and guidance given to the new generation is also a succession grooming.

I see many asian staff hording the knowledge of certain technology. They failed to realize that technology has a shelf life and once it is obsoleted so will they. I always want to share and in return we learn from each other and move ahead together.

The old saying is true, we never plan to fail but fail to plan. Hording knowledge is failing to plan own’s future.

We have found, at RetiredBrains.com, that temporary jobs and project assignments are much easier to get than full-time positions.

For most of these kinds of jobs employers need not pay benefits so they are more cost effective. Older workers can demonstrate their abilities, show they provide a full days work for a day’s pay and take less time off. As a result many get hired on a full-time basis as a result of proving their abilities and work ethic.

In some cases when applying for a job it is to your advantage to indicate you would like to be hired on a temporary basis to prove your work ethic and demonstrate your abilities. Some employers will actually give you preference over an applicant not willing to work on this basis. In any case this approach gives the interviewer a different perspective on you as a candidate.

So true. Thanks for adding that. RetiredBrains.com is a super place for folks to go to as well. Part-time is a great way to get in the door. I think I may have even interviewed you about that for my new book, Great Jobs for Everyone 50+. Here’s a link to a little video I did on that very subject.

Having been out of the workplace for 12 months whilst coping with breast cancer and it’s associated treatment I was looking to get back into full time work, luckily I had done some temp work with an agency and asked the GM at a check in if he needed someone to work in the office, he said that he would shortly as someone had informed him that they were leaving. Then I didn’t hear anything, saw the job advertised on a job site and called. The girl who advertised the position had recently been promoted but told me to send in my resume. Again I didn’t hear anything. I knew the girl and knew she was only 23 and I thought my age was probably an issue. I finally got an interview and the very first thing the GM said was that the girl was his 2IC, that she was young but had earned her role, he then also mentioned there had been some friction in the office. I responded directly to her and said “Yes, congratulations I saw that on LinkedIn. I think you have the advantage, being younger you can probably look outside the box, while others who have been in a role for a while don’t like to change things.” She smiled, he smiled, they asked about my health (fair enough under the circumstances) and then I knew I had the job when she said “It will be good to have someone in the team that I can rely on, that I don’t have to keep running in every 5 minutes to check whether people are doing their jobs or just talking” But I totally have to say the only reason I got the job is that they already know me and know my work ethic….I applied for an identical position at a competition company and never got any response. Yes age discrimination is very prevalent! I agree with the suggestions of doing a temp or casual role that may lead to a more permanent position but I would like to suggest something else…..you have been around for 50+ years (just like me) think outside the box…think of all the people you know…and put it out there that you are looking for a job. I firmly believe at our age it is definitely who you know (or they know) that will get you over the line, and you need to tell people how good you are, don’t be modest!!! My cousin looked at my resume and picked it to pieces – she told me I know you and know what you are capable of but I wouldn’t hire you from your resume – so, put your best foot forward….go for it